Definitely one of my most memorable weddings for 2011.
And an absolutely incredible story of love and faith in God. With only RM1,000 in their bank account, they started their wedding planning despite the huge financial commitments organizing a wedding would bring.
More of their story coming soon… but for now, some casual portraits, taken the day after the wedding. Random unplanned locations. Love it!
The One
When the one whose hand you’re holding
Is the one one who holds your heart
When the one whose eyes you gaze into
Gives your hopes and dreams their start,
When the one you think of first and last
Is the one who holds you tight,
And the things you plan together
Make the whole world seem just right,
When the one whom you believe in
puts their faith and trust in you,
You’ve found the one and only love
You’ll share your whole life through.
I love this poem that Kenneth and Marie chose for their wedding. It reminds me that marriage is a journey we go through together. The path seems uncertain, but what makes the whole journey exciting is the company of the person holding your hand as you discover life.
Sometimes, you also discover that the person you initially disliked is the one holding your hand. You know the old saying, “Never say never?” First impressions can be misleading and Marie never imagined going out with a person like Kenneth. But good things happen to those who wait patiently… and to those who are persistent.
Rolling hills, dodging golf balls, beautifully kept lawns, little lakes… what a great location for a pre-wedding shoot! I’ve always wanted to shoot in a golf course, but somehow it never happened…till I met Kenneth and Marie. They shared with me their idea of shooting their pre-wedding at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club (KLGCC) and I absolutely loved it! On top of that, they wanted to head to Carcosa as a 2nd location, and I was excited about that too! (as you can tell, beautiful locations make me do a little skip & jump every now and then).
The other thing that makes me excited is the ability to connect with my couples. Kenneth & Marie, I completely enjoyed our time together, getting to know the both of you better prior to the shoot and on the shoot day. This includes our little incident at a certain cafe where we discovered a six-legged creature on our table! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding and I wish you many years of hand holding!
Photographer: Grace
Make up & hair: Wedding Isle
Wedding Gown: Pretty in White
Location: Pullman Hotel & Botanical Gardens, Putrajaya
Sometimes life gives you a few interesting surprises along the way. Chance encounters that were fated. Especially when you’ve communicated with the person in the first place, but never met each other.
In 2005, Eng Wah’s company had a job vacancy. Penny’s housemate was his ex-colleague, so she got in touch with Eng Wah through MSN and sent him a resume. Unfortunately she did not get called in for an interview and as luck would have it, she never got to meet Eng Wah.
Two years later, they met each other in an IT event. She came with her colleague and he was there with his housemate. They sat together, had lunch but did not talk to each other.
Fast forward to 2009. Somehow his contact was still in Penny’s MSN list, so one day, she noticed his status had changed to include an IQ test. Penny answered and it was right. That was the first time they started a conversation online. Everyday, Penny and Eng Wah looked forward to their online chats. “Good morning” was the keyword to trigger the conversation of the day. Gradually, they found their similarities… same college, favorite restaurant, favorite food, favorite song, pasar malam, travelling…
Eventually, they started going out for dinner, movies, pasar malam every Wednesday…
When Eng Wah cooks, she tests his food. When Penny goes out for photo shoots, Eng Wah becomes her model (which is unusual, as most girls tend to be the model instead!). Their friendship grew, until one day, he finally mustered the courage to hold her hand while shopping at Isetan.
Which led to… 2011.
One day, Eng Wah picked Penny up from a company event and they went home together. When she arrived home, she found that he had used her color pencils to write “I LOVE YOU” on the ground. On top of that, there was a delicious looking jelly inside the fridge with the words “Would you marry me?”on top. And she said yes!
Photographers: Grace & Alex
Make Up & Hair: Cherry Au
Location: Nikoi Island (off Bintan Island, Indonesia)
Some months back, I blogged about my travel to Nikoi Island for a pre-wedding photo shoot. I met Kevin & Katherine (also known as Ruifeng & Peishan) about a year ago when they traveled from Singapore to KL just to meet up with me. Katherine is an avid supporter of my work which I am grateful for. :) She comments on so many of my Facebook updates which is really really nice! Kevin & Katherine flew me into Singapore for their wedding on the 22nd of October, and prior to that, their pre-wedding shoot in Nikoi island.
I must say, I have a weakness for beaches, the sea and islands. Over the next few weeks, you’ll find a number of postings on the blog related to beach weddings – we photographed so many over the past few months! Back to Kevin & Katherine’s pre-wedding shoot – this was a memorable event for me. Actually, the trip itself was an adventure. Alex and I had to fly to Singapore, catch a ferry to Bintan island, take a 45 minute taxi ride across Bintan to another jetty, hop onto another ferry for 30 minutes, and then we reached Nikoi island! Phew! But it was worth it! I love the seclusion of this island, plus I could walk around it in 20 minutes. Alex and I had a private chalet to ourselves, thanks to Kevin & Katherine’s generosity.
To be precise, the chalet looked like this:
Since Katherine loves details, she planned and transported all these items for her photo shoot in Nikoi.
Photographer: Grace
Location: Some random park in Subang
It was 8am. I arrived at Aaron’s home in Subang to be greeted by his warm and welcoming family. In a matter of minutes, they made me feel at home, our conversation drifting from what they do for work to why I shoot portraits for a living to pieces of artwork on their family wall. For an hour, I took some informal photos of Aaron’s family. An hour later, Sheena arrived at Aaron’s place, having rushed over from work not too long ago.
She had just completed her night shift at the hospital, and hadn’t slept at all. After her shift ended, she rushed home, got dressed, did her own make up and made her way to Aaron’s place. I was really amazed at the energy this girl had! I was concerned that she would be really tired for our portrait session, but Sheena made everything look so easy.
The both of them are super easy to photograph. They kept laughing at every little thing I said (or didn’t say!). Our shoot location was no where glamourous. In fact, it was a tiny park across the road from Aaron’s home. I hope these photos show you that it doesn’t matter at the end of the day where we shoot, what matters most is the connection between the couple. Aaron and Sheena were so comfortable in their own skin and in front of the camera. Sometimes I felt ignored. But that’s totally fine with me. :)
